Dear Managing Editor:
As we approach Earth Day on Monday, April 22, 2024, I feel compelled to write about an activity that can have a profound environmental effect: composting.
Composting food scraps and other organic material produces a nutrient rich sludge that, when added to soil, reduces/eliminates the need for synthetic fertilizers, and sequesters carbon in that very same soil.
Good soil sequesters more carbon than living plans and the atmosphere combined. Next to burning fossil fuels, harmful agricultural practices (single crop farming, tilling, chemical fertilizers, etc.) are the main contributors to carbon emissions. By choosing to support sustainable farming practices whenever possible such as buying local and/or organic produce and meat, not purchasing items by Big Ag companies, and by composting, we can keep our families and our earth healthier.
Now, you may have legitimate arguments against composting. You may not have space in your yard for a decaying mound of organic glop. You may not be a huge fan of the raccoons, skunks and rats it might attract. You may not have the time, strength, or lack of olfactory senses to constantly rake a rotate a compost pile. All valid. And I have a solution!
Black Earth Composting comes to my house every other week to pick up my bag of compost. On my kitchen counter sits a ceramic jar into which I throw all my culinary scraps. When that gets full, I simply take the bag and place it in the green garbage cart (provided by Black Earth) that I keep with all my other garbage cans. I call it the lazy lady’s compost. Black Earth (I don’t know of another company who offers this resource) services all areas from Worcester eastward. Once a certain number of enrolled residents is reached in a town, the cost reduces. Our family once used 2 large town green trash bags per week – now we use 1 small.
Why not look into the practice of composting this Earth Day? Either the original method or the lazy lady way with Black Earth. The world will thank you.
Sincerely,
Laura McLarnon
Northborough
